Steelhead and Old Tires

The Steelhead Whisperer communicating with his beloved chrome on California's Central Coast.

By Sam Davidson

TU’s Central Coast Steelhead Coordinator, Tim Frahm, grew up fishing for steelhead in coastal streams from San Francisco to San Luis Obispo, and has an uncanny knack for getting grabs when everyone around him is getting skunked.

Maybe it's because the "Steelhead Whisperer" has more than his share of good kharma, having worked to restore steelhead habitat in this region for many years.

This past weekend, Tim was at it again, doing yeoman’s work to help native south-central coastal steelhead. Frahm tag-teamed with Geoff Malloway, owner of the Central Coast Fly Fishing shop in Carmel Valley, and Herman Garcia of Coastal Habitat Education and Environmental Restoration (CHEER) to organize a clean-up of old tires from the Pajaro River.

CHEER is the primary stewardship group for the Pajaro River, and Garcia is legendary in this region for his energy and effectiveness in restoring steelhead habitat. Volunteers, including TU members such as Brian LeNeve (president of the Carmel River Steelhead Association), used ATVs to haul hundreds of tires out of the river bed -- normally the river is running at this time of year! -- and found an old steelhead carcass in the process.